Westbrook takes a quirky route
Curator at rural gallery allows artists out of the
box, into barn
REGISTER
STAFF WRITER
August 29, 2004
AMANDA PIERRE/REGISTER PHOTOS
Inviting? Honey Locust Thorns by Valerie Knowles
offers a beautiful, but treacherous welcome in an open doorway to the barn.
Kevin Lair is a quirky curator. In his shows, as one
of his artists says, he seems to be in charge - but maybe he is just along
for the ride.
Every year since 1995, he has invited a select group
of artists to show work at the Westbrook Artists Site, just around the bend
from Holliwell, a covered Madison County bridge. The property includes a 100-year-old
barn and a corncrib.
Even though each show has a title - "re-fuse"
(2001) or "Sequence" (2002) or this year's "N00965859F"
- the work doesn't need to fit squarely into any category. Lair lets artistic
freedom reign.
WHAT:
N00965859F
WHEN: Today through Oct. 24
WHERE: 2325 Holliwell Bridge Road, Winterset
DIRECTIONS: From Des Moines, take Interstate
Highway 35 south to the St. Charles exit. Go through St. Charles. About 7
miles outside of St. Charles, turn at the Holliwell Bridge sign onto a gravel
road. Follow the road about 2 miles to the covered Holliwell Bridge. A turnoff
left of the bridge will lead to the site.
HOURS: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays; 1-5 p.m.;
and by appointment.
CALL: (515) 468-1503 or (781) 775-9555
The artists can explore their own interests, which is
why the titles of the exhibits often have multiple meanings.
"I'm not seeing connectors," Lair said, "I'm
thinking of the process. A lot of shows get put together based on the obvious.
I like to be more creative."
This year, 11 artists are involved, primarily from Iowa
and Boston, where Lair makes his home for most of the year.
The artists get their work to him any way they can. Some
build it onsite during the weeks or days leading up to the show. Some send
it to him with careful instructions on how to assemble it.
Beautiful web: This cocoon-like weaving by Leah Ellen
Kucera is among a collection of her work called "Artifacts." This
weaving uses a branch, thin paper and wire.
This year, one artist stopped at the site and installed
her work in the middle of a move from New York to Los Angeles.
It takes a certain kind of artist to create a site-specific
work at a barn on the outskirts of Des Moines anyway, Lair said. The demands
of the space attract only the highly creative.
The 11 artists in this year's collection have connections
best drawn by the individual viewer. All of the participating artists seem
project-oriented and very interested in the artistic process, no matter how
labor-intensive.
Some of the highlights of the show:
The work of Tracy Heneberger, a participant for many
years, has become a signature of the Westbrook show. He interprets his own
experiences, personal investigations or surroundings using man-made materials.
He made the comment about being "along for the ride." He said his
pieces, cast in bronze, tend to get a mind of their own. He also has work
at the Kerrigan Campbell Gallery in New York.
Artist Wesley Kalloch has a piece called "Goals,"
which required the installation of objects on a gently sloping hillside. The
painted rods look vaguely like goal posts in a game with offbeat rules.
Valerie Knowles from southern Iowa, who has also shown
at the Anderson Gallery at Drake University, continues her work with the idea
of the dangerously inviting. Her piece, constructed from the huge thorns of
honey locust trees, makes a pretty, lattice-like barrier in an open doorway
of the barn.
Leah Ellen Kucera , now living in Los Angeles, has a
collection of work under the title "Artifacts." She weaves webs
and spins cocoons out of yarn and thin paper.
Agricultural focus: Curator Kevin Lair's "Implement
Series" referring to agricultural implements. He does this with squares
and lines on boards arranged in horizontal clusters.
The signature piece at the site is Lair's sculpture
, "Allis Chalmers," a large-scale sculpture from 2002 in the center
of the barn. Lair is interested in pieces that reference old farm implements.
This year, his "Implement Series" vaguely refers
to farm patterns and agricultural production. He does this with squares and
lines on boards arranged in horizontal clusters, with rich orange color variations.
Artist Susie Nielsen has put together a full-room installation
that projects her three-minute, 16-mm film, "Jim." Next to the projection,
the walls are painted in shades of brown with text and symbols.
Nora Wendl , director of Drake's Anderson Gallery, is
working on a visual biographical investigation of Edith Farnsworth, the woman
for whom architect Mies Van der Rohe designed the Farnsworth House in Plano,
Ill.
Artist Mitchell Squire, an assistant professor at Iowa
State University, has arranged a collection in the corncrib next to the barn
on the Westbrook Artist Site.
He said the pieces, mainly antiquated equipment once
used by farmers, doctors and merchants, have been collected over the last
10 years, mostly in central Iowa. Viewers must walk around and look down into
it.
The objects, from calf weaners to corked vials and nursery scales, are juxtaposed with famous images of slavery. The objects prompt the mind to make associations that can be historical or even sinister.